History was made in Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) on Friday night — and the country’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, found himself in the thick of the celebrations.
The NRL is Australia’s premier rugby competition, and for the last few years, a record that had stood for over half a century — that of the highest ever try scorer — has been under threat. It eventually fell at the Sydney Football Stadium yesterday, producing a moment that transcended a local rivalry and ended with a vast pitch invasion, which Albanese was unable to resist.
It was a hugely significant moment in Australian sport.
In 1973, Ken Irvine, a winger who played for North Sydney and Manly Warringah, retired from the game having scored 212 tries, more than any other player in NRL history. Players have flirted with that record in the 53 years since, including some of the greatest and most durable performers in the sport’s history. But Irvine’s tally had always survived.
Ken Irvine training at White City Stadium in London during the 1963-64 Australia tour of Britain and France (Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Irvine died young — he was only 50 when he passed away in 1990 — but his blazing speed and the long-term significance of his record have kept him present in the sport to this day. In 2018, the award given annually to the NRL’s top try scorer each season was even named after him.
However, in recent seasons, Alex Johnston, a prolific try-scoring winger for the South Sydney Rabbitohs — who are co-owned by Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe — has been approaching that record. Johnston won the Ken Irvine Medal three years consecutively, from 2020-22, and his rate of scoring has been such that, at 31, it had long been assumed that he would become Irvine’s natural heir.
That moment arrived on Friday, in a derby against the Sydney Roosters.
Johnston began the game on 211 tries. In the first half, he equalled the record, scooting in to score down the left wing. In the second half, taking a pass from Latrell Mitchell, he broke away and clear down the left wing again, eventually crossing the line to score try number 213 and rewrite the history books.
Alex Johnston scores in the left corner for the Rabbitohs (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
He was immediately mobbed by his team-mates. As a measure of the moment’s reach, the first fan who broke onto the pitch to celebrate with the players was actually a Roosters supporter.
To some, Johnston’s record was bigger than the rivalry.
In the build-up to the game, the NRL had warned supporters that invading the pitch would come at a heavy price. Rugby league does not have a pitch invasion culture, as exists in European soccer or U.S. College sports, even when championships are won or promotions are secured.
Fines in excess of A$5,000 (£2,638; $3,490) were threatened as deterrents, as were two-year bans. Messages to that effect were flashed up on the big screen inside the stadium, too, on the night. But, ultimately, nobody cared.
Within seconds, thousands swarmed onto the pitch to celebrate. Among them was Albanese, elected as Australia’s 22nd prime minister in 2022, who was pictured striding across the turf sporting a red and green Rabbitohs scarf around his neck, surrounded by security, and high-fiving supporters as he went.
Albanese is a genuine fan. He has been a supporter and club member since childhood and was also previously a club board member. On Friday night, he appeared to have no regrets. Asked whether he would be fined for entering the pitch, he was cheerfully indifferent.
“It was worth it to be part of history,” he told the official NRL site.
Albanese’s fandom is no secret and while plenty of broadcasters and supporters saw the fun in the moment, treating Albanese as just another sports fan rather than a politician, others were less enthused. Online, some accused him of hogging the limelight for his own purposes. A few, possibly tongue-in-cheek, demanded he be fined and banned.
There was plenty of very real outrage, though. Indeed, among the most vicious came from one of the commentary boxes.
Fair to say Mark Levy and Mark Riddell were NOT happy with Albo’s on-field appearance last night.😡 pic.twitter.com/AeYJP14yoD
— The Continuous Call Team (@ContinuousCall) March 14, 2026
The players left the field during the pitch invasion and the game was delayed by 16 minutes. Johnston and his team-mates retreated to their dressing rooms, allowing the pitch to be cleared, and allowing him to safely store the shirt and ball to which he had somehow successfully clung.
When Johnston reappeared, he was wearing a new commemorative shirt, this one with the number two on the back of his jersey resplendent in gold.
The Rabbitohs still lost the game — the Roosters won 26-18 — but nobody cared. Likely, nobody will remember, either.
Appeals on the big screen for fans not to invade the playing area went ignored (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
The night belonged to Johnston and Albanese duly led the tributes, telling the NRL’s official website: “AJ has become an all-time legend. With years left in his playing career, his record may never be broken.
“As a Souths tragic, I’m so happy he wears the cardinal and myrtle. But the entire rugby league community can be proud of his contribution to the game. He is also an absolute gentleman off the field who cares about his community.”
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is a big South Sydney Rabbitohs fan (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Albanese is certainly right about that: Johnston is an extremely popular player and respected across the sport.
The record he broke was significant. That it was broken by a much-admired character, in a sport which has not always been full of them, seemed to matter, too, and was at least part of the explanation for the uninhibited joy that broke out in Sydney on Friday night.
There is no indication yet whether the prime minister of Australia will be fined for entering the pitch, or if he will be banned from rugby league games for the next two years. The National Rugby League did not immediately respond to The Athletic’s request for comment.